CSS review Sun 3/25-Thurs 3/29

A little background, I’m 27 and my husband is 35 and we went to CSA for our honeymoon in 2010 and then went to CSS May 2011 and now returned for our 2nd anniversary.

We arrived in Montego Bay around 8am and flew through customs/immigration. We went to the lounge and had time freshen up, get a drink and we were leaving shortly after...yes we were drinking at 8am on a Sunday, don't judge!

This is my first time really traveling since being diagnosed with celiac and so once we checked in they had the head chef George come out and talk to me about my dietary needs; he was really nice and made me feel at ease. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived so we went down to the main pool and had a few drinks and played scrabble with Shelly who was a blast, as always.

Our room G13 a One Bedroom Ocean Suite was on the 3rd floor and we had a wonderful view this time because the spa elevator wasn’t blocking our view in any way. The room was nice, clean and comfortable. Not a complaint, but I think it would be a win-win if they did install some type of fan to help in the bathroom because it did get pretty humid when we used the shower. The bar wasn’t stocked when we arrived but we called and within 5 minutes they came by to stock it, a little annoying but not a big deal.

Food at the resort was amazing! We went to Casanova twice and Palazzina once for dinner. I felt that I got a lot better service/attention at Casanova as both times they went out of their way to bring chef Dwight out and talk to me about my needs and then he made me a specific appetizer, dinner and desert. The beach party on Tuesday had the best jerk pork and fun entertainment with a fire dancer and steel drum band. We never went to the “after hours” party at the Balloon Bar but from what we heard when we were sitting on our porch it sounded like everyone was having a great time there.

The fitness center was small but adequate. We only went once and we were able to do what we wanted to do and the other days my husband played tennis with guest instructor Jim and I ran around the pond.

We spent most of our day at the beach under a tiki hut. We had no problems getting one, in fact we ended up getting the same one every morning even when we arrived late (10:30ish). The employees were constantly out on the beach cleaning up any seaweed or debris and asking if we needed anything. There was a new employee on his first day who was doing the flag services on Monday and then was at the pool bar on Tuesday who was very quiet/shy but very attentive whenever we needed a drink….I wish I could remember his name. We went snorkeling on and enjoyed seeing the little tropicaly fish. We also enjoyed the Jamaican history with Chadwick.

My only complaint is the usage of straws...and this is probably really dumb. I don’t remember the resort using straws as much last year but maybe the policy has changed. No matter what I ordered they gave me a straw without asking if I even wanted one. It seems to be a huge waste of resources and an unnecessary item that will just end up in a landfill or some other place. I saw 1-2 in the sand on the beach at one point and then when looking out over the wedding gazebo I saw some down on the rocks below. Not cool, especially for a company that claims they’re trying to be friendly to the environment.

Overall we had another wonderful (quick) trip to CSS. Although we didn’t have the same surprise element like we did during our first visit to CSS we still loved the tropical feel of the resort and loved being able to catch up with some of the “old” employees while meeting “new” ones. We brought home some wonderful photos taken by Chevel that are now hanging up in my office. I think next time we may try Couples Negril just to mix it up….the count down begins!